For Treatment Professional

Dear Treatment Professional:
When you refer your patients/clients to LifeRing support groups, they will find abstinence, peer support, secularity, and choice.

All LifeRing groups are based on abstinence. LifeRing does not support moderation, harm reduction, or controlled drinking approaches. LifeRing groups include people without distinction as to “drug of choice,” the same as most modern treatment programs.

LifeRing groups provide peer support. Discussion centers on current life issues (“how was your week?”) and on planning to meet recovery challenges in the days ahead. The atmosphere is safe, confidential, positive.

LifeRing groups are secular. About 40 percent of the participants (in a 2005 survey) attend a house of worship, but religious belief or disbelief remains a private matter. Meetings are free of religious practices and end with a mutual round of applause.

LifeRing members each build personal recovery programs. As a professional, you know that matching the treatment to the individual is the key to success. Many LifeRing participants use the Recovery by Choice workbook as a scaffolding to build their personal recovery programs in a structured manner.

Experience teaches that there is more than one road to recovery. The treatment professional who can offer patients/clients a choice of recovery pathways enjoys a therapeutic advantage. Giving patients a choice creates client investment, powerfully enhances motivation, and yields better outcomes. Choice is a central feature of the modern quality treatment program.

If you would like to speak with a LifeRing representative in person, or if you want a LifeRing speaker to address your patient and/or staff audience, please contact the LifeRing Service Center, service@lifering.org or 1-800-811-4142.

Additional resources for treatment providers are available on this page.